Actor talks about leaving a cultic religion

for concern over cult-related damage, institutional abuse & psychological problems.
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fluffy bunny
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Actor talks about leaving a cultic religion

Post by fluffy bunny »

The Jason Beghe interview. An outspoken American actor talks at length about being in and leaving a cultic religion. In his case, Scientology. I spoke at length to a long term Scientologists involved in the organization about his experience and was surprised to discover, language and culture apart, so many similarities existed in the experience.

If you can mentally skip over the specific language and terminology, remembering all the similar BK language and terminology we used, I think you will find it interesting and recognise something in his experience.

One thing that struck me was when he talks about how the Scientologists talk about themselves being "Homo Novus" (new people, a different spiritual species) above the ordinary people who they call "Wogs" (a disparaging word for non-scientologists). Is not that exactly the same as the BKs believing themselves to be Golden Age deities or angels and ordinary people Shudras (a disparaging word for non-BKs)?
Scientology wrote:Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard defined Wog as a "common, everyday garden-variety" humanoid ... He 'is' a body. [He] doesn't know he's there, etc. He is not there as a spirit at all. He is not operating as a thetan.
BKWSU wrote:Brahma Kumaris founder Lekhraj Kirpalani defined Shudra as a common, everyday garden-variety human ... He thinks he is a body. [He] doesn't know he's a soul, etc. He is not acting soul-conscious at all.
I mention this because it relates to a recent topic on BKs attitudes towards "Shudras" (non-BKs). What is the difference?

Funnily enough, both the Brahma Kumaris and the Scientologists believe they are saving the world ... have the two organizations ever sat down together and worked out WHICH ONE OF THEM is actually the real path and really saving the world because the two cant exist in the same universe? Or are they just ignoring each other's existence whilst preying on those very same ordinary people, Shudras or Wogs, for money and power?
bkti-pit
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Re: Actor talks about leaving a cultic religion

Post by bkti-pit »

BKWSU wrote:Brahma Kumaris founder Lekhraj Kirpalani defined Shudra as a common, everyday garden-variety human ... He thinks he is a body. [He] doesn't know he's a soul, etc. He is not acting soul-conscious at all.
Did you make this up ex-l or did you copy it from a BKWSU document?

So far I watched part 1 and part 2 of Jason's interview. Very interesting! I have to show that to some of my BK friends.
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fluffy bunny
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Re: Actor talks about leaving a cultic religion

Post by fluffy bunny »

bkti-pit wrote:Did you make this up ex-l or did you copy it from a BKWSU document?
Ah ... no. I did not mean to mislead. I was just paraphrasing BK beliefs.

I warm to this guy too. Apart from the swearing like a trooper, because he is a trooper and from NYC, there is a depth, a warmth and an honesty in there. His experience seems to run parallel with many of ours here. A genuine interest in humanity, a fondness and sympathy for some memories and individuals, clarity about others not so good, some peak experiences he is trying to understand, a very honest coming to terms with the nature of the organization.

He is admirably observant and, I feel, committed to personal growth. What he describes from his own experience, I feel, is very much like ours. Strangely so. It is almost as if whoever is pulling the string of their religion is of the same species as the one who is pulling the strings of ours, only a masculine version in contrast to our feminine version.

I would love to see some BKs doing the same type of video. Although I was hard on Robin because his movie was still a little romantic and hagiographic, perhaps he is the best hope for some genuinely independent, non-evangelistic media from within the BK camp? If you speak to him, tell him I said something nice and respectful of him!

If you cant make it through them all, skip to the end one or two where he looks back and sums it all up.
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